The Todd Rogers-Phil Dalhausser Express arrived back in the United States long enough to pick up another tournament title before heading across the Atlantic again to seek more beach volleyball riches.
Top-seeded Rogers-Dalhausser were pushed a bit but eventually pulled away in the end, beating No. 2 John Hyden and Sean Scott, 21-19, 21-15, to win the $100,000 AVP Tour Belmar Beach Open in New Jersey on Sunday.
It was the fifth title in the last six events world wide for the 2008 Olympic champions and their 52nd title together. They split $20,000.
Top-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross defeated Rachel Scott and Elaine Youngs for the women’s title, 21-16, 21-13.
Before hitting the beach at Belmar, Rogers-Dalhausser spent the previous two weeks overseas on the Swatch-FIVB World Tour, where they were runners-up in Moscow, Russia and champions in Prague, Czech Republic.
They return to Europe for the next two weeks to play in Grand Slam events in Stavanger , Norway and Gstaad, Sweden. They’ve won 4 of 6 World Tour tournaments.
It doesn’t seem to matter where and who Rogers and Dalhausser are playing these days because they’re performing at the top of their game.
At Belmar, they breezed through the first four rounds before getting pushed to three games in the semifinals by the upcoming team of Casey Patterson and Kevin Wong. Rogers-Dalhausser won 21-12, 20-22, 16-14.
In the final, Hyden-Scott hung tough in the first game as Hyden picked up seven digs to keep his team in it. But Rogers-Dalhausser were too steady and came through on key side outs.
Hyden-Scott beat Rogers-Dalhausser four times last year, creating a rivalry between the teams.
“With Sean and John I think we have a bit of a chip on our shoulders after last year,” Rogers said. “We were tired last year and struggled to motivate, not just against Sean and John but everyone. This year we are rejuvenated, motivated and playing much better.”
Dalhausser dominated the second game, putting down 9 of 10 kill attempts with only one hitting error. He hit .619 for the match while Rogers hit .400.
“We’re playing at a pretty high level right now”, said Dalhausser. “There’s some great competition out there, so we just have to continue to execute, especially defensively.”
Hyden and Scott played well, hitting .364 and .353 respectively.
It’s just not enough this days to derail the Rogers-Dalhausser Express.
